coming up, weaponized drones have become a key tool in the us arsenal. but is it moral to use them? and an inner-city religious school in chicago with a new model for survival. plus, how many eastern orthodox christians fast during their great lent.

welcome. i'm kim lawton, sitting in for bob abernethy. thank you for joining us. a critical week ahead in the gop presidential primaries. on super tuesday, contests will be held in ten states. faith-based voters are especially key for the two front-runners. in this past week's michigan primary, mitt romney, who is mormon, got 45% of the roman-catholic vote, while rick santorum, who is catholic, got 30%. but santorum continues to do much better among evangelicals.

in michigan, 51% of white evangelicals voted for him, compared to only 35% who voted for romney. faith-based relief organizations are among those delivering food, water and emergency aid to victims of the severe weather that hit the midwest and south. several people died and hundreds were injured in a series of tornados that swept through at least five states. volunteer crews are helping with clean-up, and local churches are providing shelter for those whose homes were destroyed. in afghanistan, protests continued for the second week after copies of the quran were burned at a u.s. military base. two more american service members were killed on thursday. the u.s. has apologized, saying the quran burning was unintentional. at least 30 people have died in the anti-u.s. violence, including four other americans killed last week. a new report from amnesty international says executions in iran more than doubled last

year. the group says at least 600 people were put to death in 2011. that's up from at least 253 the year before. the report comes amid growing international concern for christian pastor youcef nadarkhani. his ath ntence for converting from islam was reaffirmed last week. although he was arrested and convicted on apostasy charges, the iranian government now says he is being held for rape. nadarkhani's lawyers say that's a lie designed to blunt the worldwide criticism. here in the u.s., a free-speech group filed a federal lawsuit demanding that the obama administration make public its legal justification for a drone strike in yemen last year that killed u.s.-born al qaeda cleric anwar al-awlaki. a second american al qaeda perative also di in e attack. the lawsuit argues that the public has a right to know how the us justified killing american citizens on foreign soil. under the obama administration,

america's use of weaponized drones has risen dramatically. the president recently defended this, saying the u.s. drone program is kept on a "very tight leash." yet, there have been ethical questions. the drone technology may be strategic, but is it moral to use it? >> rerter: drones are increasingly becoming some of the most valuable weapons in america's arsenal. unmanned aircraft such as the predator and the reaper can hover over remote areas and do surveillance for hours, even days. their operators are often in places as far away as nevada or virginia. and the drones can release missiles or bombs with no risk to those operators. experts say within 20 years, the vast majority of america's fighting aircraft will likely be pilotless. the use of drones may be strategic, but is it moral?

>> if you believe that a society has a duty to reduce unnecessary risk to its combatants, then these systems do that. so that would be actually one moral obligation. and then also the state has an obligation to effectively and efficiently defend its citizens, and these systems are effective and efficient too. >> to accept killing far from the situation of battlefields where there is an understanding of necessity is really ethically troubling for many of us. >> reporter: america's use of remotely piloted aircraft, or drones, has increased dramatically since president obama took office. both the military and the cia use them in combat operations and in counterterrorism missions. drones have been engaged in lethal operations in at least six countries -- afghanistan, iraq, yemen, somalia, pakistan and libya. retired lieutenant general david deptula oversaw the u.s. air force's drone program from 2006 until last year.

he says remotely piloted aircraft achieve a moral good. >> the precision, the persistence, and the accuracy of remotely piloted aircraft bring to the equation actually enhance our ability to accomplish our objectives while minimizing loss of life. >> reporter: yale law school professor stephen carter, author of the book "the violence of peace," agrees that minimizing risk to u.s. troops is a worthy goal. but he says it also has moral implications that should not be ignored. >> when america has troops on the ground and people are dying as well as killing, it's on the news every day. when we're using standoff bombing, when we're using missiles that kill but place no risk, it fades the nation's consciousness. that means it's easier to fight, which means it's more likely we'll fight.

>> reporter: notre dame university professor of international law mary ellen o'connell worries that the growing availability of unmanned aerial systems lowers political and psychological barriers to killing. >> these sleek, attractive, small glider like planes fly out of their hanger and slip in to a village somewhere and drop a bomb. that seems so easy to do. and on the screen, it doesn't look any different than the video game that the soldier plays later at her home. >> are these people arguing that we should only fight if you are exposed to threats and putting your life at risk? that's silly and i think it's ill-founded. >> reporter: edward barrett is director of strategy and

research at the u.s. naval academy's stockdale center for ethical leadership. he says, in fact, high-tech sensors on the drones give operators a very detailed picture of what they are doing. >> they're operating from afar, but their senses are very close to the situation. they see very clearly the battle damage that they are doing and thereforthey know that there not playing a video game. >> reporter: he says the distance allows operators to make moral decisions about the use of force. >> a soldier in the situation is scared and possible hasty in deciding what to do and acting and possibly even angry whereas an operator who's not threatened can use tighter rules of engagement and is not going to be fearful and therefore is going have a much cooler head. >> reporter: deptula says much ethical oversight surrounds the u.s. military's use of drones. >> you have many, many more sets of eyes that are watching what's going on and many, many more people in the decision loop in terms of employing lethal ordinance if in fact that is

going to be applied as an outcome of this particular orbit. >> reporter: o'connell says she supports the use of drones in combat situations, like afghanistan. but she argues that their use in noncombat settings, such as pakistan, is morally and legally wrong. the cia oversees drone strikes as part of counterterrorism operations, but us officials refuse to discuss the program publicly. according to a tally by the nonpartisan new america foundation, since 2004, there have been more than 260 u.s. drone strikes in pakistan, which the foundation estimates killed between 1,600 and 2,500 people. the strikes have generated strong protests from pakistanis who claim that many civilians, as well as militants, have been killed. the u.s. takes the position that those strikes are permissible as part of the war agait terror. >> our principal adversary since

bin laden has declared war on the u.s. in the mid-'90s and has been al qaeda. it is fully in cognizance with the laws of international armed conflict to pursue those individuals wherever they reside. >> i think they've actually been lulled into a sense that killing with drones is not extraordinary, that these are bad people as determined by our cia and we could just kill them. this is killing large numbers of persons who we wouldever allow to be killed in another geographic zone, if they were in the u.s., for example. >> reporter: wherever the technology goes, ethicists say the moral dimensions must be a significant part of the discussion. >> we have to be aware of what these technologies are capable of and what they're doing and demand of our leaders that our ethical, moral, and legal principles that we hold dear that are the basis of this country remain uppermost in all of our minds. >> reporter: carter believes the principles of the just war doctrine, which have informed military policy for centuries,

are still relevant for determining when to use drones. >> is there a just cause? is this the last resort? can the use of force actually do the thing that we claim we are setting out to do? and is our use of force proportional to the problem we are trying to solve? when we ask questions like that we're asking moral questions. i think those are the right questions to ask. >> reporter: the department of defense currently has about 8,300 remotely piloted aircraft, not including the cia's, and plans to spenabout $6 illion in 2012 adding to that inventory. in other news, a new study found the number of mosques in america increased by almost 75% in the past decade. the research was conducted by a coalition of muslim groups and

non-muslim academic institutions. they counted 2,106 islamic centers in this country in 2011, compared to just over 1,200 in the year 2000. the increase came despite high-profile opposition to the construction of islamic centers in several states. the number of religious schools in the country's inner cities has been going down for years, but there's a school in chicago that seems to have developed a model for survival. it's called holy family ministries, and it's a merger of episcopal and lutheran schools in a ministry that also includes secular social services. judy valente reports. >> i don't know about you. >> i don't know about you! >> but i'm ready for chapel. >> i'm ready for chapel! >> reporter: it may look like a pep rally, but at holy family ministries they call this "chapel" -- the wednesday afternoon worship service. outside these walls is one of the highest-crime neighborhoods in illinois. in here, the students are enthusiastic and well-behaved.

>> god is good. >> reporter: holy family ministries calls itself a new model for christian education at a time when faith-based schools, especially those in the inner cities, struggle to stay alive. >> they always struggled, i think you'd say, but the only time they didn't is when they were tied to a single congregation, a single parish, where every parent had a child and they automatically supported it. >> reporter: as neighborhoods change and congregations shrink, there aren't enough students, parents or dollars to support faith-based schools. susan work is president of holy family ministries. >> these schools are the jewels of their neighborhood and -- and we need to save them. but we can only save them if we have economic models that are more sustainable than one parish, one school. >> reporter: holy family ministries dispensed with the traditional model of a church

school to pass on doctrine. instead it created an umbrella organization that offers a variety of social programs in addition to classroom instruction. the idea isn't to proselytize, but to instill ethics and values. holy family started in 1985 as a small lutheran school. it raised $7 million in private funds to build this facility three years ago. today, holy family is a nonprofit social services center and an episcopal charity, as well as a christian school. >> we've had census workers training in here, we have wedding receptions, we've had a lot of baby showers, birthday parties, funeral repasts, just all kinds of things. by having a not-for-profit entity over everything we could access some other sources of funding that we would not otherwise be able to attract if

we just stayed as holy family lutheran school, a private school. >> reporter: only 15% of holy family's income comes from tuition. it gets the rest from private donors, grants and government. >> good morning, holy family. >> reporter: to tap into that broad donor base, holy family draws a careful line between its social programs, which receive funding from the government and other secular sources, and its faith-based school, where the day begins with prayer, followed by a mission statement. >> we the students of holy family faithfully commit ourselves to spiritual growth and christian values. >> i love the mission statement because parents wrote it. >> reporter: the children pledge to listen to god, accomplish miracles, and be the best that they can be each and every day. >> and to be the best we can be each and every day.

there are seven days, there are seven days, there are ven days in the week. >> reporter: this is part of holy family's secular outreach -- a preschool program funded by the chicago public schools. they offer no religion instruction or activity. from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., holy family is a faith-based school, for 200 children, kindergarten through eighth grade. >> teachers do what they're comfortable with. we don't impose a certain amount of religious activity in any teacher's classroom. >> reporter: formal religious instruction takes place on wednesdays. >> we've already talked about our spiritual life and our prayer life. >> our goal with every child is

that they would have a personal relationship with god by the time they leave this school. >> reporter: but the emphasis is on academics. holy family has a 100% graduation rate, and in the past five years, nearly 90% of its students have gone on to either private high schools with scholarships or charter schools. >> we want to turn out children of faith, but we -- we know that those kids have to have skills, otherwise we've turned out wonderful human beings who don't have a job. >> reporter: this is what the wednesday chapel service looks like. >> we're not putting up any barriers that would keep people of various faiths from joining in the fun. we make faith development a very lively and attractive part of our program here and we just try and keep it accessible to all the children no matter what their background is.

>> reporter: tuition is $7,200, but the school pays more than half of that, and must raise more than $1 million a year to do it. at events like this it tries to broaden its donor base by touting holy family as an investment in the community. >> it's safe, it's affordable, it's faith-based, and holy family gets results. it's not uncommon at 3:00 to hear sirens instead of school bells in our neighborhood. and the sirens are going to these schools because there are gang fights and gang activities taking place. >> good evening, everyone. my name is malik. i'm in fourth grade. >> reporter: to reach more affluent people, holy family put its development office thirty miles away, in the prosperous suburbs of chicago's north shore. half its income comes from donors, and that includes more than 30 congregations in the chicago area. >> teachers and tutors help us, and then we can make better grades. i know because i've been on honor roll many times.

>> reporter: martin marty thinks other faith-based schools, including those that are catholic, would do well to emulate holy family's approach. >> i think the model of the faith-based schools would be an excellent model for catholicism. they are just seeing their parochial schools die by the hundreds across the nation every year. i've been spending enough of my life on campuses to know how conservative structural educational institutions are, if we've always done it that way it's awfully hard to think of the new. >> sure we're one school, but we're turning out leaders for the community for tomorrow. we're turning out the kids who are going to be able to finish college, not just get in, but finish, and have good careers. also i think we're affecting the community in a less measurable way by the symbol of hope and optimism that we have brought into this neighborhood. >> reporter: supporters of holy

family believe that as long as it can keep the lights on and the books open, it can transform this part of the city, one child at a time. for "religion & ethics newsweekly," i'm judy valente in chicago. pope benedict xvi is now the sixth oldest pope in history. at 84 years, 10 months, 2 weeks annow veradays old, benedict passed john paul ii this week. who was the oldest recorded pope? it was leo xiii, who died in 1903 at the age of 93. on our calendar this week, sundown wednesday is the jewish festival of purim. children join in the retelling of the story of queen esther and the jews' deliverance from a plot to destroy them. thursday begins the hindu holiday, holee, the festival of colors.

the popular spring celebration nclus familiesaintg ea other and tossing colored water and powders that represent energy, life, and joy. members of the baha'i faith are observing their 19-day fast leading up to their new year in late march. orthodox christians began their period of great lent this past monday. it's a time of prayer and strict fasting. catherine mandell of clearfield, pennsylvania, told us about how her family fasts. >> the church generally gives us a calendar to help us track those days that we are to fast and which days we're allowed not to fast. we have several fasting periods during the year. if you take all those days together you are fasting for more than half the year. the fasts vary in strictness. great lent is the most strict, because it is the biggest feast that we're preparing for -- easter. we fast wednesdays and fridays during the regular parts of the year. we don't eat meat, fish, dairy products and eggs -- anything

animal-related. we don't cook with oil at all on the days that we have to fast from oils. we tend to abstain from alcoholic beverages and wine. if you're an able-bodied person and you're healthy, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to fast. that being said, if you are aged or infirmed, if you have some kind of illness, you need to make adjustments in your diet. i was born orthodox. i don't have any memories of not fasting for meat. we didn't fast from dairy products or fish. when my husband and i were married, we decided that we wanted to follow the church's teachings. we would fast from meat, dairy and oil. my children have no recollection of not fasting, ever. it was very difficult at first. we ate a lot of spaghetti and tomato sauce and a lot of split pea soup because, basically,

those where things i knew i could make that tasted good. to make it more interesting, i pulled from different cultural and ethnic types of food -- indian curries, asian stir fries, middle-eastern cuisine -- to try to make food that was more tasty, more diverse, so that we're not eating the same thing day after day and getting so frustrated and bored with fasting foods. it's amazing, when you have the resources. i mean, you can make something different everyday. and you wouldn't get bored with anything. at school, it's a little trying. but i make do as best as i can. you get so many questions about fasting when you're an orthodox christian because we're so strict with our fasting in comparison to other churches. fasting is not about deprivation. it's not about suffering. it's something that you make a choice to do. you're supposed to do in freedom and joy so that you can get ready for the resurrection of christ. you do it for yourself. the bible even says, "fast in

secret." and if for some reason you break the fast because you've gone somewhere and you've been served something, instead of proclaiming yourself as fasting, you humbly eat what is served to you and then fast twice as hard in secret. during lent, you don't only want to fast from food. you fast with your mouth and your ears, you hold council with your tongue so you'reasting from gossip and slander. you don't have sex during great lent because you're abstaining from passions of the flesh. you do more acts of charity, more time in prayer and reading the scripture. that's what makes the fast. it's not just what you eat, it's how much you're eating. it's a concept called right eating -- eating the right foods, at the right times, in the right amounts, for the right reason. how you correct yourself and what you need to do to get to the celebration of the resurrection. because, ultimately, you're working on getting into the kingdom of hven. this islso lent for weste chrtian and while it's traditionally a somber

time, two episcopal priests have come up with a more lighthearted devotional tool. you may have heard of basketball's march madness. well, these priests have developed lent madness, complete with elimination brackets for people's favorite saints. the winner of their "saintly smackdown" will be awarded a golden halo. that's our program for now. i'm kim lawton. you can follow us on twitter and facebook, where i have a fan page too. find us on youtube, and watch us antime, anywhere on smart phones. there's also much more on our website. please comment on our stories and share them. audio and video podcasts are also available. join us at pbs.org. as we leave you, music from the choir at holy family ministries. ♪